Twenty Seconds of Courage
by OceanSunrise32
Summary: Poof, now in college, made a mistake that includes the love of his life. His parents are on vacation from godkids, and he goes to them. But even years later, he may still be able to also get advice from a certain past godbrother...  T for mild language.
1. Chapter 1

He rung his hands nervously, flitting back and forth across the small pink front porch. He paused and placed his shaking hands on the purple railing for support, smiling to calm himself. His parents can't just start hating him, especially in his time of need. Looking at the what used to be lavender, but now a faint periwinkle from years of fading, railing, he remembered as his parents had carefully explained at his young age of eight that the color would forever keep him in their hearts. His parents were always ones for the small things mattering the most.

At the ripe adult age of nineteen, only one year into fairy university, being only eight years old felt so long ago.

But seeing his big brother for the last time felt like only yesterday.

Biting back tears, the fairy paced again, not bothering to flutter his wings this time. The curly-haired fairy let out a deep breath. This was not the time for crying; not the time for reminiscing on withering memories that every godparent (or in this case, godbrother) should have gotten over by now.

Sure, his parents were working over their depression on the matter a lot faster than he probably ever would. It was their job, after all. Also, after thousands of years of losing precious godchildren to the hands of fate to growing up, they had easily grown accustomed to the eternal ritual of letting it go.

Running his fingers through his thick, curly, purple hair, mind going back to the few days after his small family's loss.

As his eight-year-old self, he glanced nervously around the office of the godparenting community. His legs dangled from couch he sat on by the door. In front of him, he watched as his parents, one in each chair, sobbed as a rather sympathetic fairy handed them a clipboard covered in papers.

They each wiped their tears before hurriedly scribbling a signature on each line. The fairy behind the desk scoot the tissue box closer to them, glancing up at their tear-stained faces.

"I'm really sorry about this," The fairy shook her head, really feeling sorry for her childhood friends, unlike her usual gab to the godparents she honestly didn't know.

Wanda sniffled and took the hand of her long-lost best friend from high school, "I know. I'll miss him so much. But, like Jorgen said, he's been given so many exceptions throughout the entirety of having us. This is just one we couldn't give him, Tricia."

Tricia glanced between the couple, but caught eyes with the small boy in the back of the room. The three fairies turned to face the small fairy, causing him to blush, before they turned towards each other again.

"Have you told him yet?" Tricia whispered to her old friends, worry crossing her features.

"No…" Cosmo looked down sadly, "But we'll explain it soon. He's going to wonder why we aren't going back."

"And I'm afraid it's really going to hurt him," Wanda let a few tears escape, but tried blinking the rest away.

"I really do feel for you two. You've wanted to be godparents since high school. And now, look at you! The godparents of the _ultimate _hero of fairy world! Not only that, but you have changed his life that no one in his life could! And now you left him, knowing that he can live the rest of his life, happy with the residue of memories. You shouldn't be upset about the loss, but happy for the good changes."

The room fell silent as her words sink in. Cosmo and Wanda glanced at each other, and smiled.

Wanda glanced down, her tears drying, "Thanks, Tricia."

Cosmo felt his own smile fight his way through, "Yeah, thanks, Trish."

Tricia whipped off her reading glasses and leaned menacingly towards the green-haired fairy.

"What have I told you about giving me that nickname?"

Cosmo sunk down in his chair, biting back his giggles as he teased his old school friend. Tricia rolled her eyes and pulled her dark, sparkly purple hair to one shoulder and looked at their files.

"Well, you have been with him for 8 years, 5 weeks, and 6 days. Rounded out, I'd usually give you 9 months. But since you are good friends, I'll give you 9 months and an extra week of vacation time. Be back here after that time for your next assignment. Until then, have nice recovery time."

Tricia smiled warmly at her friends motioning for the doorway. The two shakily got up and moved towards the exit. Wanda picked up her son, caressing her tired son in her arms.

She glanced back at her friend, who could only mouth _Good luck_.

At first, the small fairy was only slightly confused when his parents helped him into a taxi cab with many bags of luggage. This taxi cab was different from the others, however. As this was one that delivered fairies to their fairy world home after they…

After they lost a godchild.

The gruff driver in the front instantly put out his cigar, even if he only smoked it outside of the window. Besides, a little kid was getting in.

He looked into the rearview mirror, and nearly choked on his own cough.

"Well, um, I _did _tell you guys that I would get you into this fairy cab one day, huh?" He smiled gruffly, trying to break the awkward silence, as he knew how this usually happened. Cosmo and Wanda's heads shot up to take a look at their driver, but both ended up smiling grimly. They recognized the driver who usually tried to take them away on more than a few occasions.

But Poof was completely ignorant to the entire exchange, as he leaned against Wanda's side on one side, and Cosmo comfortingly rubbed his arm on the other.

And much to Cosmo and Wanda's dismay and expectancy, he sat up with a start as he finally took a good look around where they were driving. And as much as his young, underdeveloped mind could comprehend, he realized they were in a place he did not recognize.

Panicking slightly, he looked up at his mother, "Mommy? I want to go home."

Wanda and Cosmo exchanged looks, and Wanda answered, "Sweetheart, we are going home."

"No! I mean with Timmy!"

"Poof, honey, we can't!" Wanda snapped at her young son, instantly regretting it as fear flickered through his eyes.

"Poof, listen, mommy's just upset." Cosmo pulled his son into his lap, totally ignoring the rules of the road.

"Look, Poof," Wanda sniffled again, "Look we aren't going to see Timmy again. We aren't allowed to."

Poof's eyes widened in shock, and he instantly looked to his father, eyes pleading that it was all a joke. The slowly, and carefully, explained how the job worked, fearing the worse for their son.

The car ride, much to the parents' surprise, was silent as Poof slowly processed what he was told.

Yet, it would only be nearly a year later that Poof would finally stop waking up every single night in a cold sweat, and months after that when he would stop having nightmares all together.

The nightmares weren't different ever. Every single night, he'd wake up at the same time, screaming for his brother to come back. In his dreams, he would find himself sitting on Timmy's lap, both of them crying as he felt his parents wrap their arms around them in a family hug. Just as he was about to tell his older brother just how much he loved him, an unseen force would constrict his body to near numbness, yanking him farther away from his brother. He parents still hugged him, crying themselves. But no matter how loudly he screamed out Timmy's name, his brother seemed to willingly let him go.

The part that scared him the most was that Timmy accepted the fact he would lose Cosmo, Wanda, and Poof once he turned eighteen. And the family themselves, no matter how hard they tried, couldn't for a good while.

During the time of the nightmares, both parents had originally came to him in the night. After the first night, Cosmo himself had to run out in tears. Wanda couldn't help feel bad for him. Yes, she had lost a child. Someone she considered her own son! But Cosmo had lost so much more than a son.

He had lost his best friend.

A friend that, other than Wanda and, later, Poof, who truly accepted him for who he was, and totally and utterly loved him for that.

Wanda couldn't help but feel worse for her boys than she did for herself about the loss.

Glancing down at her son after yet another nightmare, he looked at her with pleading eyes, "So, I'll never see Timmy again?"

She let a tear fall as she brushed his lavender locks out of his eyes, "I'm sorry, Sweetheart…"

And now, here he stood, at the second biggest milestone of his life. One that he regretted in more ways than one.

Puffing air out of his cheeks, Poof ran his hands down his face.

He was scared shitless, much to what would be his mother's dismay at such word choice. But he was terrified.

Glancing at his watch, he sighed again. There were two things he lived by, and those were sayings from his parents.

From his father, his fun-loving, goofball of a dad, taught him one thing.

You only ever need twenty seconds of courage.

When he first heard this, he had been thoroughly confused. But once his dad, who reminded him of… oh, who was that character from Disney? Goofy?

He smiled, and remembered how his dad told him that his whole "twenty seconds of courage" method helped him ask out his mother in the first place.

Even if it consisted of his father babbling "I-uh, ee, um, uh- yeah, wh- huh… h-hey, Wanda."

If Poof wasn't their child, as all children easily got disgusted by their parents' love story, he would have totally agreed that it was definitely kind of… cute.

Following up on that was his mother's kind advice:

Life. Goes. On.

It always amazed him that his parents were able to compliment and work together, even if it was unintentional.

But his mother's advice added more to his father's.

Though his father's advice usually worked, there were many a time that things did not go the way he wanted them to.

Taking one last deep breath, he faced the purple door. He glanced down at his watch, counting down from twenty.

He pounded on the door repeatedly and waited.

He glanced down at his watch again. Ten seconds to go.

He waited, and realized that even if his parents were angered by what he was about to tell him, even if his own brother wouldn't be there to help him through this, even if what he had just gotten himself into only a few months ago, and he was about to tell his parents exactly what happened…

Poof caught his breath as the doorknob started turning slowly.

He knew that after what he's gone through, and _**definitely **_about to go through:

His life is absolutely about to go on.

~0~0~0~0~0~

**WHAT?**

**I was trying to get inspired to finish my OTHER fanfics, and what do I get?**

**A WHOLE OTHER FANFICTION.**

**Yeah, I'm totally not surprised xD**

**This story WILL be continued. Trust me. :D**

**This chapter is more explaining how the fairy family got to where they are today. It will start making sense.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Poof! Whatever are you doing here? Not that it isn't wonderful to see you, but…"

Poof slowly shifted his gaze from where the doorknob used to be to look into his mother's welcoming eyes. He smiled slightly.

"Hey, mom."

"Well, what do you think you're doing, just standing there? Come in!"

The purple-themed fairy walked into the familiar foyer, inhaling the familiar aromas of the house he had grown up in when his parents were on break from different godchildren. This house in Fairy World was much more desirable, mostly because living in the fishbowl with godchildren reminded him too much of Timmy. Even when he came close to other children, it certainly wasn't the same. The never-changing, three bedroom house brought great relief to the young fairy, whether it was between godsiblings, or vacationing during his first year (and just starting, second) year of college.

Poof immediately sat in his favorite chair in the corner by the window. His mother sat on the couch against the opposite wall and crossed her legs, smiling lovingly at him.

"What suddenly brought you home? You never visit us during the weekends…" He could sense the playful guilt trip in Wanda's tone. Poof smiled fully for the first time all day.

What he really needed to tell his parents had not been bothering him for only today, but for a solid week. At first, the news startled him. Then, he had suddenly burst into hysterical, happy tears. And finally, as he has been for the past few days, broke down in stress and panic. Being the equivalent to 19 years old and having just begun his second year of college, the news had broken him dramatically.

And to make matters worse, he knew it was mostly his fault.

He knew immediately after receiving the news, he would need to tell his parents no more than two weeks from that point. But there was first the trouble of organizing his thoughts himself, and talking to his girlfriend, Carling Ellenwood, about it.

Just after Poof had been born, and seeing how the baby had done more good than harm, the Fairy Counsel had finally repealed the no-baby law. Luckily, this was decided only a few months after Poof was born, so his classmates weren't at all much younger than he was.

Fairy World was also able to reopen the old fairy high schools (back when the older fairies were kids, elementary and middle schools were co-species, and high school was back to respective home planets; Fairy world decided to carry on this tradition), including Carl Poofy Pants High, where Cosmo and Wanda had met.

Carling was actually one of the first of the flood to be born just after the law was passed, making her one of the older children of the grade. Poof had met her when she was one of many who started Spellementary school halfway through the term. The purple baby instantly fell for her. Unlike his counterpart's tastes this time around, and who though the new fairy was "too nice" for his liking, Poof found himself barely able to speak to her. Sure when it came to being the most popular kid in class and everyone simply adoring him, Poof had inherited his mother's social skills. But when it came to talking to the girl he really liked, his father's traits kicked in as he started stuttering and blushing, unable to form a coherent sentence.

"_H-hey, C-C-Carl-"_

_The girl with aqua hair giggled, "It's Carling, Poof."_

_His stomach dropped in excitement._

"_Y-you know m-me?"_

"_Yeah! You're famous. And, you're really cute."_

_Carling floated to Poof's level and gave him a small peck on the nose, and flew off with a chuckle. Poof's cheeks turned a rosy red as he watched after, but only blushed harder when he told his parents after school._

_They kept teasing him and claiming that he was "in love"._

Throughout Spellementary school and Starling's Secondary school, Poof had Carling in nearly every class of his. Starting about 7th or 8th grade, Poof realized that Carling was slowly drifting away. Sure, they were at the friendship level of "we talk to each other in class a lot", but they were never truly friends. Poof saw that starting in the awkward teen years, Carling had developed a spot with the "popular" girls in school. Poof, himself, was still somewhat popular (though not in the "popular guys" group), but the fame barely lingered; all because he was the one fairy baby that brought back infancy to Fairy world.

You see, Carling could never, ever hurt a fly or anyone else. Yet, she had developed close friendships with each and every girl in the group, as well as being kind to everyone she wasn't friends with in the grade. Whenever the other girls had decided to do something particularly mean to someone else, Carling had the incredible ability of talking them out of it. Sometimes, when they didn't listen, she would walk away disapprovingly, and strike up a conversation with whomever was sitting alone.

As much as Poof wanted to talk to her, there were a few good reasons they haven't really talked to each other outside of class. Well, he was never really alone during school, so he was never the "lonely" person Carling would approach to talk to. Poof's best friend, Warren, practically clung to him starting in elementary school. He had been picked on at first, until Poof came to the rescue (as per usual), and pretty much deemed him his hero. They have been inseparable best friends ever since.

A second very good reason is that Poof would screw up _big time_. In class, he could keep his mind and voice steady as they talked about whatever class they were in. But out in _public?_

No. No way.

He'd just get all tongue-tied and embarrassed, and…

"_Why don't you just ask her out, lover-boy?" Warren teased one day at break during sophomore year. Poof turned to his best friend in astonishment._

"_W-what?" Poof's face flushed red at the mere thought; this did not go unnoticed by the other fairy._

_Warren smirked, "See, you go red just thinking about it! Just do it already!" With a hard shove from his friend, Poof stumbled in the direction of his crush. Unable to regain his balance, Poof tripped over his own feet, and fell right in front of Carling._

_The entire schoolyard went silent._

_Poof gulped nervously, and smiled up at the beaming girl._

"_Hey, Poof!"_

"_H-hey, Carling…"_

He really should, one day, thank his best friend for making him ask her out nearly four years ago. But, really, what teenage boy would really expect their crush to ever say yes?

"So, what brought you home so suddenly?"

Poof snapped out of his thoughts to see his mom give her one-raised-eyebrow look. She knew that whenever he had gone into deep thought, the situation at hand was rather serious.

He got up from his chair and instead sat next to his mother on the couch. Poof grabbed Wanda's hand and looked her in the eyes.

"M-mom, I-I…" Poof trailed off, breathing heavily. What was he supposed to say? "C-Carling…"

With a crack in his voice when stating her name, large tears rolled down his cheeks. He pulled his hand back and put his elbows on his knees, burying his face in his hands.

Poof was so terrified. Terrified about how his mother might react; terrified how his father might react; terrified of what this all now meant for his _future_.

"Oh, Sweetie…"

Wanda pried his hands from his face and started wiping tears away. Poof refused to meet her gaze.

"Mom, stop. I'm not a little kid anymore."

Wanda simply laughed and gently lowered his head to her lap, and started comfortingly stroking his hair.

"Don't give me that. Your brother did the same thing about two months before he turned eighteen when he started having a breakdown about the tests, college, and losing us. And he didn't complain when I tried comforting him."

A lot has changed over the course of eleven years. In the fairy family now, they had stopped having emotional breakdowns when Timmy was mentioned, and actually would laugh while they reminisced on their favorite memories. This mostly happened between Wanda and Poof. Wanda would tell Poof funny stories about the family before Poof was born. They were still cautious around Cosmo. Even though he could still laugh when he remembered specific stories, but both of his family members could still see some hurt in his eyes.

Poof smirked at what his mother said, "Well, yeah, but that just makes him a sissy."

Wanda tweaked his nose as a joking punishment for what he just said, much like she did when he was little. But she instantly went back to stroking his hair.

"What is it you need to tell me?"

The tears sprang back in his eyes, but he tried even harder to swallow them back.

"M-mom… C-Carling…"

He bit his lip for a second and waited for the tears to reside. Wanda waited patiently.

"Carling is pregnant."

~0~0~0~0~0~

**Yay, the second chapter is up!**

**Now THIS is where the story is about to pick up. Explanations are pretty much done, so this is where the plot will really start picking up.**

**Review if you want to leave a suggestion or comment on the story!**


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